Best of the Web

TV Drone Follows a Professional Skier. David Cenciotti, the blogger behind the Aviationist, has posted this photograph from Reuters showing a TV drone flying beside beside Canada’s Erick Guay during the second practice of the men’s Alpine skiing World Cup downhill race on January 12, 2012, at Lauberhorn in Wengen, Switzerland. According to David, the TV drone is not a quadricopter but a 8-rotor robocopter or a “Octocopter.” Either way, its certainly a sign of how far along both drones and sports coverage has come!

Image credit: Reuters

The Return of the Microsoft Flight Simulator. Back in March, the AOPA Pilot Blog reported that Microsoft had reentered the flight simulator market with the launch of Microsoft Flight. However, it was noted that Microsoft Flight is being marketed as more of a game, it’s a new product and its not an evolution of what existed before. Hence, its hard to tell how useful it will be as a flight training tool.

Air Race Game Released. Fans of air racing should note that Aeroclub Airsports Croatia has released its AA-RACE game simulation for iOS and Android devices. AA-RACE is based on real world air race/aerobatic competitions and its available for download.

ForeFlight Mobile Review. Meanwhile, the Ask a Flight Instructor site has a detailed review of ForeFlight by Eric Gideon who apparently has been using it on his iPhone for awhile. The only cons he listed were that its expensive compared to NACO paper and a user must manually add approach waypoints. Otherwise, ForeFlight is free for 30 days and then its either $75 for a one-year subscription or $150 for a one-year subscription with geo-referenced approach plates.

Online Map of Airports With Autogas. Also for pilots in the USA, General Aviation News has mentioned that GAfuels blogger Dean Billing has created a map of all the airports that offer lead-free, ethanol-free autogas. You can access the map through this link.

ASI Flight Risk Evaluator. On a safety note, general aviation pilots everywhere can now plug in their flight profile and expected fight conditions into the ASI Flight Risk Evaluator and the application will figure out the best course of action for you to take. Of course, you are still the ultimate decision maker for a go/no-go decision.

British Airways to Invest in Bankrupt American Airlines? On a completely different note, Terry Maxon of the Dallas Morning News’ Airline Biz Blog who has been closely following the American Airlines bankruptcy sag has recently mentioned that the Sunday Times of London had reported that International Airlines Group, formed in the merger of British Airways and Iberia, is considering buying a stake in American Airlines. Hence, it would be ironic if an airline called American Airlines would became a colony, I mean a subsidiary of British Airways!

Face Full of Wheat (Update). Finally and as we noted back in February, Arty Trost of the Let’s Go Flying Blog had written a trip report about heading home from Oshkosh in an ultralight and ending upside down in a field with a face full of wheat. She has since written the second part of her story – noting that damage was minimal and she was not hurt in the incident. She did quickly leave the field just in case there was a fuel leak as any fire would have engulfed the entire field of wheat.